Association between frailty and changes in lifestyle and physical or psychological conditions among older adults affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 countermeasures in Japan.

AIM

This study aimed to clarify the association between frailty and changes in lifestyle and physical or psychological conditions among community-dwelling older adults affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 countermeasures in Japan.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was carried out between 8 May and 12 June 2020 in Japan. Self-reported questionnaires were distributed among 1353 older adults. To assess frailty, we used the frailty screening index. To assess changes in lifestyle and physical or psychological conditions, we developed the Questionnaire for Change of Life (QCL), which comprised five items related to frailty. Cronbach's α was calculated as a measure of internal consistency of QCL. We compared the score for each item in the QCL between the frailty and non-frailty groups. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to show the factors that affect frailty status.

RESULTS

In total, 856 older adults (63.3%) were analyzed. A total of 83 participants (9.7%) had frailty, and 755 participants (90.3%) had non-frailty. Cronbach's α for QCL was 0.552. We observed a significant decrease in daily movement, leg muscle strength and meal size among older adults with frailty compared with non-frailty (P < 0.001). Subjective leg muscle strength (odds ratio 3.257, 95% confidence interval 2.236-4.746) was negatively correlated with frailty.

CONCLUSIONS

We suggest that each individual QCL item should be used in analyses involving the QCL. This report showed that subjective lifestyle changes affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 countermeasures were associated with frailty status. In particular, as older adults were aware of a decrease in their leg muscle strength, they were significantly more frail. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2021; 21: 39-42.